Image Credit- PTI
Indian fans will still have to wait for the return of
the former captain of India, Virat Kohli, even though he has been included to
the T20I lineup for the upcoming ICC World T20. The seasoned batsman is not
eligible for selection on Thursday. Head coach Rahul Dravid announced to
reporters on the eve of the Mohali series opener that Kohli will miss the first
Twenty20 International match against Afghanistan for personal reasons.
After being out for more than a year, Kohli and Rohit
Sharma are back in the T20I team. For the first two and third Twenty20
Internationals (T20Is) against the Asian opponents, Rohit will captain the Men
in Blue, while Kohli will be included in the Indian camp. The last T20I that
Rohit and Kohli played was in November 2022. At the moment, India’s World T20
semifinal match versus England ended in defeat. India’s final warm-up for the
T20I World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States and the West Indies,
two-time winners, will be the Afghanistan series.
Similar to how Rohit’s return caused India to alter
their opening lineup noticeably, so did Kohli’s. Prior to Shubman Gill and the
youthful Yashasvi Jaiswal being matched, Kohli’s departure resolved a selection
conundrum—at least for the first game of the series. In the first Twenty20
International at Mohali, head coach Dravid affirmed that India’s first-choice
openers are Jaiswal and Rohit.
Additionally, this implies that Shubman Gill, the Test
No. 3 batsman, can replace Kohli in the Indian XI, if only for the first game
of the series. Gill was selected to start the Afghanistan T20Is as the third
opener. For the duration of the T20I series against Afghanistan, India will be
missing middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer, former vice-captain KL Rahul, and
wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan. The services of superstar Rashid Khan will also be
missed by visitors to Afghanistan.
Jitesh Sharma, who is vying for the vacant
wicketkeeper position in the series, will take aim at Samson. In the spin
department, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav are anticipated to collaborate. Mukesh
Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Avesh Khan, the fast trio, will also be keen to
increase their holdings in Mohali.